EXCEPTIONAL CLASSICAL CARVED MAHOGANY 'RECAMIER' SOFA, CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO SAMUEL FIELD MCINTIRE, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1805

Collection of Hyman Kaufman, Boston;

Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, American Furniture: Property of Hyman Kaufman, Boston, Mass., Part II, October 26, 1935, sale 4193, lot 330;

Collection of William Randolph Hearst;

Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, The William Randolph Hearst Collection: Part II, November 19, 1938, sale 64, lot 557;

Collection of Philip Rosenbach (1863-1953) and Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach (1876-1952) of Philadelphia;

The Rosenbach Museum, Philadelphia.

Magazine Antiques (December 1935): 256

With a design derived from a pattern illustrated by Thomas Sheraton in Cabinet Dictionary (London, 1803), this sophisticated sofa represents the “Grecian” taste as interpreted in Salem during the Federal period.¹ 

The exceptional carving stems from the acclaimed shop tradition established by Samuel McIntire (1757-1811), the Salem architect who was responsible for the designs of a number of the finest Federal houses in Salem as well as their architectural carving and furniture. The motifs displayed on this sofa – including the bowknot, bunches of grapes and star-punched ground -- are hallmarks of his work. Closely related clusters of grapes and grape leaves descending from a bowknot are found on seating furniture attributed to McIntire, including a set of shield-back sidechairs and a sofa in the Karolik Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston originally owned by Elias Hasket Derby and a set of oval-back chairs owned by his daughter, Elizabeth Derby West.² These motifs also appear on a set of seating furniture represented by two matching sofas and four window stools made for the parlor of the Peirce-Nichols House in Salem, which was remodeled by Samuel McIntire in 1801 at the time of the marriage of Jerathmiel Peirce’s daughter to George Nichols.

This sofa survives as one of only four extant examples of its form with carving attributed to the McIntire shop tradition. One at Winterthur Museum is illustrated by Dean T. Lahikainen in Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style (Peabody Essex Museum, 2007, figure 4-140 on p. 162). One is in the collection of Historic Deerfield (92.14) and illustrated in The Magazine Antiques (December 1930): fig. 10, p. 502. Another in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum (70.85.1) was formerly owned by Israel Sack, Inc. and illustrated in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection, Volume II, no. 1053, p. 417.

Closely related carving on a star-punched ground likely carved by the same hand as this sofa is found on several pairs of bellows attributed to Samuel McIntire’s son, Samuel Field McIntire (1780-1819). He worked closely alongside his father and continued in the business after the elder McIntire’s death in 1811. One pair of bellows is in the collection of Winterthur Museum while two other examples are in private collections. Three of the aforementioned examples are illustrated by Lahikainen in Samuel McIntire as figs. 4-33, 4-144, and 4-168, pp. 119, 164 and 174. Another pair with carving by Samuel Field McIntire was in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott and sold at Christie’s, January 20, 2012, sale 2635, lot 144.

The early history of the sofa is unknown before it came into the collection of the Boston antiques dealer, Hyman Kaufman. After his retirement from the antiques business in 1934, this sofa and other items from his collection were sold at Anderson Galleries, American Furniture: Property of Hyman Kaufman, Boston, Mass., Part II, October 26, 1935, sale 4193, lot 330. William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), the American businessman, newspaper publisher, and founder of Hearst Communications, purchased this sofa at Anderson Galleries. It likely stood in his New York residence until 1938, when it was sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries with other pieces from his art collection to help relieve the debt he accumulated during the Depression. Philip Rosenbach (1863-1953) purchased this sofa at the Hearst sale in 1938 and it became part of the furnishings in his town house located at 2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia which he shared with his brother Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach (1876-1952). The Rosenbach brothers were partners in the Rosenbach Company and renowned dealers of rare books, manuscripts and decorative arts. Until this sale, the sofa has remained the property of The Rosenbach Museum, which was founded in 1954 after the deaths of Dr. Rosenbach in 1952 and Philip Rosenbach in 1953.

¹ Thomas Sheraton, Cabinet Dictionary, vol. 2 (London, 1803), plate 50, reprint New York: Praeger, 1970.

² Edwin Hipkiss, Eighteenth Century American Arts: The M. and M. Karolik Collection, 1950, nos. 91, 92, and 120 and Charles Montgomery, American Furniture, The Federal Period, 1966, no. 15, p. 77.